11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Looking for a couple of quick reviews...

by RobertBand
9 replies
Hi there warriors! A friend and client of mine has just finished the initial build of his site and I was wondering if anyone wouldn't mind giving us some feedback before we start trying to drive traffic into it. I've gone through it a few times now and I know theres a few minor problems but I'm starting to go screen blind. Its a web store for home decoration products and I've got a little blog I'm putting together fed into it to try to get some more traffic. Any comments and suggestions are welcome. I know this forum is great for spotting potential problems. The address is HomeDecorStation.com .

As a quick disclaimer (I'm not sure if I need one or not)... I'm not asking for anyone to buy anything. All I really want is some genuine feedback from real people. Thanks warriors.
#couple #quick #reviews
  • Profile picture of the author MarkH45
    The "webring" is not necessary and you aren't going to gain any real "buying" traffic from it.

    There is nothing on the site about shipping or return policies...etc.

    There is also no real contact us form or phone number...
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497007].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author 12-o'Clock
    I would lose the webring as it is distracting. Site looks good. Add a privacy policy too.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497140].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    First, I second everything Mark said - and I make it unanimous on "get rid or the web ring"!

    Also, a few other points:

    - The background changes when you jump from the home page to the other pages - is this intentional? I find it distracting.

    - You may want to be more creative with the title tags - the main page says "home". Hardly SEO-friendly!

    - The "blog" page is in alternating fonts and is obviously formatted for mega-huge screens - all others must contend with a double set of scroll bars. And as for the blog content I'm confused as to what Rachel Ray has to do with steak knives!

    - On the Contact Us page you state "we encourage you to e-mail us and we will respond as soon as we recieve your message". It would be helpful if there actually was an e-mail address provided!

    - On the Shop page "Categories" is incorrectly spelled. And the first three pictures are not hyperlinks, although the rest are. I also think the images should have transparent backgrounds, the ones with white backgrounds look out of place.

    - No simple way to jump back to the Categories section from within a category. And very little description or incentive to buy for the items I looked at.

    People want to know who they are buying from, this site doesn't tell them.

    Bill
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497306].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RobertBand
    All really great ideas guys. I've noticed a few of these things before but its always nice when someone who doesn't stare at these pages all day can spot something you didn't. I really appreciate you taking the time to look at the site and give me some points to correct.

    Robert
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497361].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      The front page is a wasted opportunity. It should tell me who you are, what you sell and why I would want to buy from you. There is nothing to encourage me to click further to read your site.

      Definitely lose the web ring - it looks clumsy and amateurish and simply provides visitors with a way to leave your site.

      Also, can you make the site a bit wider to fit more on? It looks teeny tiny on my widescreen. I understand you don't want visitors using regular screens to have to scroll, but I think you could make it a bit wider without forcing scrolling.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497371].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author RobertBand
        Ok well i jumped on the sitebuilder and got rid of the webring... so thats taken care of.. gonna try to put some more stuff on the home page to give people a better idea of who we are... as for the blog I am already on wordpress... albeit a free hosted page while I'm starting up. I'm just feeding it into the site to give it something else for people to stay on and I'm planning on reviewing a product every week... in the hopes that people will read it and maybe even buy it. I haven't been able to get rid of the double scrollbars just yet. I think the best way to do that is to just have it display two or three posts tops and maybe have a link back to my blog for people who want to read more.

        The sitebuilder he's using is the intuit sitebuilder and its not overly apt to letting me resize the page.. I can't quite figure out how to go about that.

        Robert
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497412].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
          Just had another peak - it's looking better.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497424].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I think everyone has pretty much covered the main points. The only thing I'd add is that the background is mildly distracting, which, for me takes the focus away from the business at hand. FWIW.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1497430].message }}

Trending Topics